Embodiment
Walking in nature, immersed in the vast sounds of early morning birdsong. High up in the canopy, a breeze gently rustles the leaves in waves of shimmering, all-encompassing magical sounds above.
“The cool wind awakens exposed skin relaxing into her beauty. Grounded on the earth, the presence of a world awakening, brought to life, and an invitation to surrender to the stunning surroundings of the natural world.
This work is an exploration of string textures and sonorities, moments expansive and vast, and also, distinctly present, personal, and intimate, and bringing us all in close, safe, anchored in our grounded bodies. It seeks out the essence of magical beginnings through voice, space, breath, and embodiment.
It is an exploration of the glimmering textural and timbral nuanced possibilities of the ensemble through the composing and rehearsal process, in crafting and realizing this work, and to those who take it forward, embody it, and make it their own.
The work is anchored in nuanced harmonies and subtle textural shifts. It ultimately demands a surrender of the performer to fully embody the music. Where both audience and the musicians experience it together, sinking in and surrounded by, the shimmering and open, the close and present, an inviting sonic world of beauty in which to let go and immerse. ”
Score Details
Instrumentation: vln I, vln II, vla, vc I vc II (or db) (cello quintet / bass quintet)
or string orchestra
Duration: 5 Minutes
Program Notes
About the commissioner
Premiered and commissioned by the Choral Arts Initiative led by Conductor and Artistic Director Brandon Elliott. Friday June 30th, 2023, Zhang Hall, Concordia University Irvine, Borland-Manske Center: Music, Irvine, California, USA.
Performed and on exhibition at SINE, Wallace at With Architecture, Perth, Western Australia, 2023-24.
With thanks to Dale Trumbore, Derrick Skye, Dominick DiOrio, Lorraine Joy Welling, and Brandon Elliott.